I was just over at another blog that I read occasionally.  She wrote about friends that she had in passing while growing up.  It made me stop and think and I decided to write about a few of the friends that I have had along lifes' route. 

My first BFF, Sharon.  We lost touch around the 5th grade or so.  I'm still sad over that.  She was the youngest child in her family.  I think she was a change of life baby because all of her siblings were mostly grown and she was already an aunt.  I thought that was so neat.  Her family was from Malta.  I would go with them all the way to La Mirada, from Lakewood, it seemed so far as children, little did I know I would eventually come to live in beautiful La Mirada.  Anyway, we would go and lay sheets out and shake the trees and then gather all the olives and take them back to their house where her mom would spend days processing them.  I also remember they had a fig tree in their backyard.  They probably never got a useful fig from that tree, what the ants didn't destroy we did.  We used them as all sorts of free toys.  They also had a boat that mostly sat in the driveway and we would have grand adventures in that boat.  The last memory that I'll share here and one of my fondest, we collected all the acorns we could from their oak tree in the fall and stored them in my doll carrige, until we had enough, we thought, to make acorn "meal".  We intended to make cornbread out of them.  We dried them and peeled them and ground them, and then we asked one of our parents how to make cornbread and that ended that adventure.  It might have been good.

Later a friend from Anaheim, Misty, we were frienemies.  That is all I'll say there except to say, that she was also a change of life baby.  Hummm curious.

I had a friend about the same time as Misty that I would occasionally spend time with.  We were not BFF's but we enjoyed each others friendship and spent time together here and there.  Elva was shy, sweet, fun and sadly picked on by others.  She was overweight, Hispanic and I think the only girl in her family, also the youngest.  Her family owned a strawberry field.  I thought that was so cool.  Right in the city.  I would go home with her now and then and we would go out in the field and pick strawberries and then just hang out at her house making our own fun.  She would come to my house and I don't remember what we would do other than just hang out in my room.  I sure hope she ended up having a nice life.  She was really nice.

Suzie was a friend I met in between Jr. High and High school.  We met at the park and hung out like crazy with a group of other kids there.  My older sister met her future husband through that group, that was unfortunate.  I met my husband about a decade or so later through the same friend.  Susie and I moved away from each other and only saw each other here and there over the years, but remained friendly.  I ended up in her wedding.  I remember her love of horses and Air Supply.  I remember going with her and her actual  BFF (which I didn't get along with) to an Air Supply concert and waving the lighter and swaying to the music and laughing at her crying to all the songs.  She laughed too, it was so funny.  I remember how much she loved My Pretty Ponies, even though we were really too for them.  We occasionally get in touch and check to see how each others lives are going.  She has three children and a happy life.  I'm so glad for her. 

Dear, dear friends I've written about before from church are still so dear to my heart.  I miss them terribly as I continue to adjust to being away from them all.  New friends are settling into my heart and that is fun and new and such a learning curve. 

Here's to friends, old and new, distant and close.  Deep in my memories and in my heart.  Thank you to all of you for the influenced you've had on my life.  I cherish you all.  There are many, many more, but I need to go for now.  God Bless you all.